The following is an excerpt from the forthcoming book “Yalla! The Turbulent History of Arab Nations at the World Cup”, written by Ali Khaled.
It is 31 March 1980 and new Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is not very pleased. And when Saddam Hussein is not pleased, bad things happen.
The object of his easily provoked ire was a football match. Not just any football match, but the mother of all football matches in the Middle East at that time: Iraq versus Kuwait in front of 60,000 fans in Baghdad.
In the bowels of Al-Shaab Stadium, Saddam stood grimacing at the final whistle. The Iraqi team had just lost a spectacularly ill-tempered match 3–2 to their arch-rivals, confirming Kuwait’s place at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. It did not help that Iraq had led 2–0 at half-time only to collapse in the closing stages.
Iraq’s dejected and, one would imagine, genuinely petrified footballers were set to stay at home and face the repercussions from their displeased leader. Iraq eventually secured a place in Moscow 80 after Malaysia withdrew, but no one knew that yet. Even in 1980, mere months after he officially became the president, Saddam’s Iraq was a frightening place to be. It would certainly prove to be for a generation of gifted Iraqi footballers by the middle of the decade.
The footballing battle at Al-Shaab Stadium was the inevitable and unedifying conclusion to a series of matches between the two nations that captivated the region’s football fans of that era. In 1982, Kuwait had become the first Arab nation from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to reach the World Cup, the apex for their wonderfully talented group of players.
Iraq, managed by the Croatian Lenko Grčić (1976–1978) and later their very own legendary coach Emmanuel “Ammo” Baba (1978–1980 and 1981–1984) countered with an equally brilliant generation.
There was the flying Raad Hammoudi in goal, left-wing wizard Ali Kadhim, box-to-box midfielder Hadi Ahmed, Nigem Al-Fartooss and Sabah Abdulghalil; and gravity-defying centre-forward Falah Hassan, nicknamed “Seeler” for his physical resemblance to West German international Uwe Seeler. Later came man-mountain Adnan Dirjal in defence and forwards Hussein Saeed and Ahmed Radhi, perhaps Iraq’s two greatest players.
By the 1980s, football may not have been a high priority for the Iraqi dictator and his sons Uday and Qusay, but that did not stop them playing a major part in sabotaging the country’s first, and to this day only, World Cup appearance.
Like Mussolini and Argentina’s military junta, Saddam realised the power of football to garner good publicity during his reign. Back in March 1979, only months before ascending to power officially, he had used the Gulf Cup in Baghdad as a personal platform to confirm his status as the country’s leader.
In September of the following year, Iraq embarked on a long and ruinous war with neighbouring Iran. In the middle of that eight-year conflict, Iraq’s footballers, at the tail end of their own golden era, somehow managed to reach the World Cup in Mexico.
IRAQ’S QUALIFICATION for the 1986 World Cup was as traumatic for their neighbours, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as it was glorious for the “Lions of Mesopotamia”. Having progressed from the first round of qualifiers, Iraq and the UAE faced each other in a two-legged tie, with the winner playing the victor of the other tie between Bahrain and Syria. The winners from this match between favourites Iraq and a strong Emirati team were expected to reach the World Cup.
The first leg at Dubai’s Rashid Stadium – then home to Al-Shabab Club – saw Iraq turn a 2–1 deficit into a 3–2 win with goals by Hussein Saeed and Natiq Hashim in the 79th and 81st minutes. Legendary coach Ammo Baba’s team looked to have one foot in the next round. The second leg, played in Taif, Saudi Arabia, due to Iraq’s ongoing war with Iran, would go down as one of the most dramatic in Asian football history.
Goals by Fahad Khamees after only two minutes and Adnan Al-Talyani on the hour mark had UAE fans dreaming of qualification, and beyond. As the match went into its final moments, one Emirati commentator urged fans to meet their heroes at the airport on their return home. It was the commentator’s curse to end all commentators’ curses.
No sooner had the words left his lips, than a disastrous mistake in the UAE defence allowed Karim Saddam to volley home past Mohsin Musabah. A 2–1 loss was still good enough for Iraq to progress on the away-goals rule. The distraught Emirati players sank to their knees. The jubilant Iraqis were one step away from Mexico.
As expected, Iraq dispatched Syria in the final round after a 0–0 draw in Damascus was followed by a 3–1 win in Taif. Iraq had done it: they were the sixth Arab team, and only the second from the AFC, after Kuwait, to reach the World Cup finals.
IN A JUST world, the 1986 World Cup would have been the crowning glory for Iraq’s green giants. Except when they showed up in Mexico, the green was nowhere to be seen. Seemingly inexplicably, Iraq, who had sacked coach Edu just before the tournament started, had changed their first and second kits from the historic green and white to light blue and yellow. For their passionate fans, it was the equivalent of Brazil showing up to the World Cup in orange.
Not surprisingly, it was thanks to the meddling of Uday Hussein, football’s latest Bond villain. He ruled over every aspect of Iraqi sport with an iron fist but reserved some of his most brutal treatment for the nation’s footballers.
A brash and insecure man, Uday took out his frustrations at being his father’s less favoured son – to younger sibling Qusay – by becoming a sadistic tyrant over athletes who had little option but to toe the (Ba’ath) party line.
By Mexico 86, Iraq’s battered and bruised footballers bore little resemblance to the joyous team that had thrilled with often futuristic football over the previous decade, particularly in the second half of the 1970s. The team’s change of colour, it transpired, was due to Uday’s preference for the yellow and blue colours of Al-Rasheed Sports Club, which he had established in 1983. Iraqi officials knew better than to disobey.
AT THE World Cup, Iraq had been drawn with hosts Mexico, Belgium and Paraguay, who they would face on their World Cup debut on 4 June. Playing against Group B’s weakest opponent gave Iraq hope of causing an upset. A win in the opening match would emulate debut victories by Tunisia and Algeria and leave progress to the second round a tantalising possibility. But this was not a time of fantastical dreams for Iraqis.
At Estadio Nemesio Díez, the team now managed by Brazilian Evaristo de Macedo Filho, or just “Evaristo”, started well and threatened to take the lead through a couple of long-range efforts.
Yet Iraq fell behind after 35 minutes to Julio Romero’s smart flick past the keeper, and now captain, Hammoudi. Khalil Allawi almost equalised for Iraq with a deft free-kick effort that was tipped over the bar by Paraguay goalkeeper Roberto Fernández.
The controversy came from the resulting corner on the stroke of half-time. Mauritian referee Edwin Sydney Picon-Ackong, having allowed Iraq to take the corner as the match moved into stoppage time, blew his whistle just as Radhi headed home what would have been a deserved equaliser. The effort was disallowed, and just 45 minutes into Iraq’s World Cup campaign, the clouds were gathering.
The players, needless to say, were furious as they walked back to their changing room. César Zabala could have doubled Paraguay’s lead in the second half, but his powerful long-range free kick struck Hammoudi’s right-hand post and deflected to safety. Iraq, sadly, could not take advantage of the let-off, and that disallowed goal remains a bone of contention to this day.
Belgium, who had lost 2–1 to Mexico in their opener, were next up for Iraq, who were now on a hiding to nothing. The Belgian team, managed by Guy Thys and containing the likes of Jean-Marie Pfaff, François Vercauteren, Jan Ceulemans and the up-and-coming generational talent Enzo Scifo, were about to embark on a run of form that would take them all the way to the semi-finals.
In front of 20,000 fans at the Estadio Nemesio Díez on 8 June, Scifo opened the scoring for Belgium after 15 minutes with an arrowed right-foot finish from the edge of the penalty area after a fine assist from Ceulemans. The second goal came only six minutes later and also had Ceulemans’ fingerprints all over it.
The captain was brought down in the Iraqi box, and Nico Claesen easily converted the resulting spot kick. With more than three quarters of the match left, things looked ominous for Evaristo’s men but, now playing in the unfamiliar light blue, Iraq survived until half-time with only a two-goal deficit.
Their task, already improbable, looked to be impossible when Basil Gorgis was sent off for two quick-fire bookings in the 52nd minute. Somehow, however, the defiant Iraqis pulled a goal back five minutes later with an excellent Radhi effort that was almost a carbon copy of Scifo’s first-half goal.
But there would be no more scoring as Iraq crashed to their second defeat in two matches and, barring some miraculous mathematical permutations, were out of the tournament as well. In the end, there would be no need for calculators on 11 June as Iraq faced the hosts Mexico at the imposing Estadio Azteca. At least they were about to depart the World Cup on the grandest stage possible.
A dominant home team could have taken the lead on several occasions in the opening period but Iraq’s reserve keeper Fatah Nsaief, given the nod over Hammoudi, was having an alternately inspired and chaotic afternoon. At the other end Natiq Hashim fired over the bar from Iraq’s best chance.
Fernando Quirarte scored what turned out to be the only goal of the match nine minutes into the second half, firing from a tight angle past Nsaief. To their credit, the Iraqis managed to fashion a number of half-chances, mostly from distance, but in truth Mexico could have had the match wrapped up if not for some of Nsaief ’s interventions. Iraq, bottom of Group B with no points, were heading home while Mexico, Paraguay and Belgium – respectively in first, second and third place – all qualified for the Round of 16.
Iraq’s Golden Generation was no more, and it remains a sporting tragedy that it ended in such unremarkable circumstances. Off the pitch, Uday’s treatment of athletes would cause more terror and distress. The boys in green certainly deserved a better send-off into the history books.
Yalla! The Turbulent History of Arab Nations at the World Cup tells the story of Arab football’s generations-long struggle against the odds. Heroic performances and devastating failures, rare moments of glory and far too many of heartbreak – all played out against a backdrop of paralysing political interference, organisational chaos, questionable refereeing, and football that ranged from the inspiring to the incompetent.
Along the way, players of genius and golden generations emerged, hinting tantalisingly at brighter futures that, until recently, rarely materialised. But this is ultimately a story of struggle, redemption, and, above all, those moments of joy that make the Beautiful Game what it is.
